Comforting Dinner: Mien Ga or Chicken Soup with Rice Vermicelli

Rice vermicelli (bun tau) in homemade chicken broth with shredded poached chicken garnished with green onion and cilantro.

Building the bowl: shredded poached chicken on bed of rice vermicelli before broth is added.

The trick to getting al dente rice vermicelli is to soak the dried vermicelli first then cook in medium boil until cooked. Vermicelli is drained then rinsed with cold water to stop the cooking.

How This is a Ten Minute Quick Brunch: Chicken Rice Vermicelli Noodle Soup with Greens

Better than oatmeal.

The trick:

Chicken broth is leftover from liquid I poached chicken for last night's dinner. I added five spice, ginger, onion powder, star anise, bay, chile de arbol, fresh garlic, fish sauce, mirin, cider vinegar, checked seasoning and I had a basic soup broth.

Leftover shredded chicken from last night.

Lettuce, scallions, cilantro already chopped and in plastic container in fridge.

Shredded pickled carrot is always a regular item in fridge for banh mi sandwiches and other dishes.

Fried shallot chips made by microwaving with a bit of oil for 30 seconds.

Hoisin sauce, sriracha and lemon juice for topping.

Way better than oatmeal.

Rice Vermicelli with Rare Beef and Nuoc Mam Dressing

Served with pickled carrot, lettuce, Vietnamese coriander, cilantro and fried shallot chips .

Seared lemongrass marinated beef.